Resonance: God Shattering Star

Usually when time comes to pen a “Resonance” post, I think back on music I’ve encountered while playing through one game or another. Game music usually grabs my attention when I hear it in context, so it’s those tracks that tend to get Resonance posts. This time is different though. This time I’m featuring a piece of music that I didn’t have the chance to hear in-game, though I really wish I had. The game is Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and the song is titled “God Shattering Star.”

I’ll just come right out and say it: I absolutely love this piece! I love it so much that I’m actually pretty disappointed that I didn’t get to discover it for myself during my initial playthrough of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I don’t really want to spoil anything for anyone, so I’ll just say that “God Shattering Star” isn’t featured in the route I chose and leave it at that. As for the route it does appear in, the song is used for the final confrontation between your army and the ones who’ve been pulling the strings from the shadows for the entirety of Fodlan’s history. Basically, it’s the ultimate battle between your force of heroes and the evil that’s been plaguing the country for over a thousand years. So yeah, pretty high stakes.

I think that this music perfectly captures an encounter of this nature and scale. It’s the most grand and bombastic of all the songs found in the Fire Emblem: Three Houses soundtrack, and it’s the most varied in terms of tempo and feel (at least out of what I’ve heard). The slow introduction of horns and the opera-style vocals draw the listener into both it and (presumably) the encounter playing out on screen. That’s when the fast-paced drum line and accenting instrumentals break in and begin the song proper.

From here, it’s hard not to picture the battle in one’s head: galloping horses, clashing swords, hero and villain engaged in a life-and-death duel while the battle rages around them. I almost feel like I’m hearing a story play out over the course of the track’s three (or four?) movements. I see the villain revealed, the beginning of the clash, and the hero pushed back by the villain’s sheer might before finally rallying and claiming ultimate victory. Maybe the game’s reality stands up to this, maybe it doesn’t. Guess I’ll have to find out someday. For now though, I’m just glad this piece exists. God Shattering Star is an excellent final boss theme that greatly succeeds in impressing Fire Emblem: Three Houses lore and stakes onto listeners who don’t know its specifics. Absolutely fantastic!

What do you think of God Shattering Star now that you’ve heard it? What’s your take away? Have you heard any songs that inspire something similar?